Agfa :Anapurna 100 and Mutoh Cobra 100 UV (the original version, 2005)

The Agfa: Anapurna 100 and Mutoh Cobra 100UV were shown behind closed doors at FESPA 2005 in Munich in June. You got about 12 minutes alongside the printer. 

 Agfa and Mutoh were very brave to show such an early prototype. Neither printer has appeared at any subsequent trade show, neither in Germany nor in the US. Indeed the word on the street is that the printer is delayed, to the point that Agfa had to come out with new models: Agfa : Anapurna X and Anapurna XL.

Everything about the Agfa :Anapurna 100 and Mutoh Cobra 100UV appear impressive

But it has taken Zund two years to get their Zund UVjet 250 up and running and Luscher never got their JetPrint UV printer to function adequately. The challenge for both Agfa and Mutoh is that everything on their printer is new and unique: the flush-brush head cleaning system, the walking floor dynamic feeding system, the ink. Everything is novel. 

This is a painful learning experience. Indeed the only complex UV printer that functions is the L&P Virtu. The best example of how simplicity may be the best way to design a well-functioning UV printer comes from the ColorSpan UVR and UVX.

The key question for screen printing companies, photo labs, sign shops and large digital printing companies is: do we wait for the Agfa or Mutoh, or do we buy a sure-thing now? For example, the GCC Stellar Jet 250, IP&I Cube, and a variety of other UV printers are now readily available. Now ColorSpan has entered the same price class with its new ColorSpan 9840 as the DuPont CromaPrint 22UV, the Grapo Octopus, the Agfa: Anapurna L and XL, Mutoh Cobra s65uv and s100uv printers, the Eastech Scutum (GO Fuzion UV) and the Neolt UV printers.

Since we have spent 5 days with the Gandinnovations Jeti UV printer, since we have spent another 5 days in the demo room of Raster Printers, since we have undertaken site-visit case studies of two ColorSpan UVR printers in print shops, we know these printers inside out, and can report on them. 

So if you wish to do homework, and compare each sure-thing, we have FLAAR Reports on every one of the UV printers that you should compare and contrast when thinking of the Agfa Anapurna 100 and Mutoh Cobra 100UV: namely the HP/ColorSpan, IP&I Cube 1606 / 1608, GCC StellarJet 183UVK, or Dilli Titan M at entry level, the Gandinnovations JETi 1224 flatbed or the Durst Rho 600, HP Scitex FB910, or Inca Spyder 320 at the high end. 

Agfa Mutoh Cobra 100 in 2005. FESPA, Munich.

New Agfa :Anapurna 100 and separately, new Mutoh UV printers

Now, in 2008, Agfa is re-launching a new and different Agfa :Anapurna 100. The official name is the Agfa :Anapurna XLS. This is reportedly not made by Mutoh Europe nor by Dilli.

Separately, Mutoh Europe is launching it’s own UV-curable combo-style printer at FESPA Digital (April 2008). This is the Mutoh Zephyr, made by Mutoh Europe in Oostende, Belgium.